, 1887-09-01
WONDERS OF YELLOWSTONE PARK.
Changes which observant Tourists Have
Noted-New Phenomena peveIoped.

Changes Which observant Tourists Have
Noted-New Phenomena Developed
1t is certain that the great park has not
yet begun to be known or fully under
stood. 1t is only within a year or two
that records ave been kept, and these
begin to show most wonderful and mar
velous changes in some of the phenomena.
A tourist travelling over any of the geyser
basins will tell of the wonders as he saw
them. Succeeding tourists will tell of
visits to the same place, but sometimes
the stories will differ widely. The reason
for these discrepancies is that the wonders
are seen at different dates. For instance:
The Beehive, Giant and other geysers
have been for some years practically ex-
tinct, but now they suddenly blossom out
into the most powerful n active geysers
In their respective basins. The most
reasonable theory seems to be that under
lying each geyser basin is always a GER
tain amount of force which must find
vent in some way. The channels that
connect may sometimes become choked,
when h power seeks another outlet, and
goes out through the mouth of the most
convenient opening. The Castle geyser,
which had not been active for some time,
was last year set to spouting and boiling
in a most violent ann by simply drop
ping a few bars of laundry soaprdown his
yellow coated throat.
The Giant, which last year was thought
to be dying or dead, suddenly burst into
activity May 81 last. A small pine tree
had been laid across the crater for the
purpose of indicating by its removal a
possible discharge, and all at once on
May 81 this pine limb was hurled 200
feet into the air by a vertical column of
water, which continued to shoot upward
for two solid hours. The remarkable
phenomena connected with this monster
eruption was that nearly all the other
geysers in the basin suspended operations
for the time being, in order to give the
Giant full sway. He did his work effec-
tually, filling Firehole river to its brim,
which continued to run bank full for
some hours afterward, temporarily drain
ing every other geyser and spring in the
neighborhood dry. Old Faithful was the
only one who paid no attention to the
Giant, going off regularly every hour and
keeping up the credit of his good name
in spite of the efforts of the liking of the
basin" to choke him off.
Many new wonders have developed
this year which promise to eclipse in
6AoAAdthAo NV hCloClpr DOlllIlk
caldrons, mud pots and falls. The
Sobbing Fountain, Bleeding Heart spring,
Silver Globe geyser and Fountain gey-
ser can certainly nave no superior in the
park or elsewhere on earth. The fount-
ain has neither chimney nor crater,
being simply a large, hot, open faced
blue spring, which is acquiring beneath
it somewhere a power more vast and
huge than any other fount or spring in
the park. You come upon this large
$50 by 6O) spring and would take it for
anything else but a geyser. When an
eruption is about to occur a tiny little
squirt or jet of water is sent dancing into
the air from a small orifice near by called
the indicator, and q few seconds after
ward crashl bangl splashl goes the big
blue spring, and one of the rarest spec
tacles in the park is before your eyes.
Having no crater or chimney, the water
simply goes up in a mass, and, not being
BILE to come down on the ascending
volume, falls gracefully outward, form
ing a gigantic fountain sparkling with
rainbow colors and dripping with a
million glistening beads. This is I'M
doubtedly a new geyser, and will per-
haps in time build up for itself a hand
some Gaping or throat, equal in beauty
and design to the others in the basins.
Possibly all the geyser formations were
begun in this way. When the cone is
constructed for the fountain, " the mass
of water it now throws out indicates that
it will be the most powerful geyser Of
them all.
The Silver Globe spring is off the line
OF travel, and consequently is never seen
except by hose who specially go out of
b way for the purpose. 1t is an old
trail from the midway to the upper
basin, its popularity never being discov-
cred by the first visitors who passed the
little insignificant pool of water by,
end was only found lately by Mr.. Hen
derson, who is always on the lookout for
new discoveries. This little wonder spouts
forth the most beautiful bubbles imagin-
able. Fancy a succession of SOAP bub-
bles sailing in the air, lit up by rainbow
colors and g~linting with sunshine, and
you have the eccentricity of the Silver
Globe spring complete. The spring itself
is also a marvel of beauty in its own way.
Funnel shaped down to a point lost in
the depths of the earth, bordered with q
spongy jelly like edging of green moss,
habitually Of a soft yellow satin tint, and
vet ever changing into the most delicate
shades of pink and red, the spring is,
indeed, the peer of anything in the park.
Now stand On the edge and watch that
tiny round glass object no larger than a
pea, which is slowly rising to the surface.
The pea develops into a globe of silver,
and as it comes upward it suddenly in
creases in size and makes a dash for the
surface. Out comes the bubbles and up
mounts the balloon into the air, but only
for an instant does it o~scillate, when all
at once the bubble c~ollapses, the gaseous
interior escapes, the vision vanishes and
another rises to take its place.-Montana
Cor. Philadelphia Times.
The Playful Volt.